In the town of Pirna, a medium-sized center in the district of Saxon Switzerland / Eastern Ore Mountains, the effects of the megatrends of digitalization and demographic change are currently being clearly felt in the bricks-and-mortar retail sector – vacancies in the town centre are on the rise.

Many urban planners are faced with the same problem: vacancies, even in previously established stores and good business locations, cannot be re-let and therefore devalue the cityscape. But why do vacancies occur and what concepts need to be formulated to counter them? The answers to these questions are varied and complex.

For this reason, Stadtentwicklungsgesellschaft Pirna mbH commissioned a vacancy analysis in 2023, which examined the causes, distribution and possible strategies for eliminating vacancies and was prepared by Gesellschaft für Markt- und Absatzforschung mbH.

The study was supported with LEADER funding from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development.